Beyond the Portal
by wreckingduty
Summary: SPOILERS for Big Hero 6 - Baymax and the Microbots make preparations to leave.


(This fanfic has _**SPOILERS**_ for Big Hero 6.)

Time does not pass for a deactivated robot. Time passes around them, but they are not aware of it. If it wasn't for their internal clocks, then upon reactivation, they would believe that it was still the same day.

In the world between, though, it doesn't matter how much time passes, there's no way to mark the beginning or end of each day, it's all the same in the colorful void.

Before the experiments, before a portal was opened right in the middle of a city, there had been no inhabitants of the dimension, just an unending emptiness.

Now, there were quite a few things drifting in the space, though their number is nothing compared to the massive vastness. The place that could only be accessed by portals now contained a whole host of microbots, wreckage from buildings, and one lone inflatable robot.

After sending his patients to safety, Baymax had shut down, leaving himself to float forever. His consciousness had been sent with them, the green chip tucked away where Hiro would someday find it. Baymax wasn't here, not in programming or spirit, he was in San Fransokyo, doing exactly what he was designed to do.

The Baymax in the between is Baymax in body only, designed and crafted by Tadashi. But, both Hamada brothers have had a hand in this Baymax, there was a second chip, crimson red with a silver skull emblazoned onto the surface. A chip into which Hiro had put advanced knowledge of karate. The younger brother's programming isn't the only one, there's a few basic processes that Tadashi had placed into his robot to keep him functioning.

He had taken some damage while with Hiro in the portal, once he was left alone, his vinyl body had come into contact with some of the various debris drifting along with him.

Without Baymax's system online, he couldn't reinflate after the gashes were ripped in his vinyl. Some tears were tiny, if tape was found somewhere in this place it would only take a piece or two to cover the holes up. Other spots were torn big enough that the limb was completely deflated and his robotic skeleton was visible underneath.

As he lost air pressure around his legs, the armor made by Hiro no longer fits and begins to slide off. When the bottoms of his feet are free of the protective casing, Baymax's battery indicator lights up and slowly, slowly, he starts charging.

The void behind portals has a strange energy of its own, it's not quite compatible with the robot's batteries, so he doesn't power up as quickly as he does when docked in his personal power station.

During his battery's charge, the robot once known as Baymax drifts into an aimless cloud of microbots. They were directionless and as bored as purposeless robots can be.

They scattered around their intruder, observing as the last of the air in his right arm leaked out, causing the remaining pieces of armor to disengage and join the rest of the scraps floating in the other world.

The microbots were curious about the visitor and the shedding of his armor. They probed at his processors again and again, trying every frequency they knew, all saying 'Wake up!'

It's not until the quiet 'ding' of a full battery do Baymax's red eyes light up. Without the nurse protocols, he's not bound to be summoned by an exclamation of pain.

The microbots are delighted that the larger robot has woken up and he's bombarded with questions that he cannot answer. There's some that he is able to respond to, mostly simple questions about his point of origin and his purpose.

Back and forth the discussions go, as much as they can between robots, a sharing of information and memories. More time passes, it doesn't matter to them, they learn as the days go on.

Suddenly, from somewhere ahead, there's a light, one they had all seen once before, right before it vanished and they were all sealed away in a jar that no one else knew existed.

There's a flurry of excitement from the tiny robots, out there, they can fulfill their purpose. Baymax joins in their eagerness, he too has a command that he can follow back home.

The microbots know that their companion is damaged, he looks little like he did in their memories, the rips and tears in his huggable vinyl cause him to look more skeletal than marshmallow.

After some rapid-fire discussion, it's decided. The world is dangerous out there, they will build him new armor. They cannot repair him, but they can protect him. There's materials to spare, tough and strong.

They remember the old armor, red and purple, bright and brave. This new armor will not be so colorful, metal strips and concrete scraps are all they have to work with.

What were once support beams are used as a base, a kind of skeleton for them to place a flesh of debris upon. Concrete is the main covering, with chunks of metal wedged between scraps, fitting into places where there would be holes. Glass is incorporated in as well, a viewplate for Baymax to see out of, a circular plate placed over his chip port, and shards embedded wherever the microbots saw fit.

The new armor is fit for a behemoth, looking like an industrial golem that rose from the depths of a broken building.

Baymax is ready to go back out into the world, accompanied by the swarm of microbots as they head for the portal.

He had a command that he needed to finish executing.


End file.
